


Popping the Question

by artemisscribe



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Brotp, Dancing, F/M, mentions of Virgil and Kayo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 21:33:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17906051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisscribe/pseuds/artemisscribe
Summary: It's Virgil and Kayo's wedding day and John has a very important question for Penny.





	Popping the Question

“It was such a lovely wedding” Penny sighs happily as she watches Kayo and Virgil gaze adoringly into each other’s eyes at the top table. 

 

“It was wasn’t it” John agrees, smiling at his brother over Penny’s head. 

 

“Almost enough to tempt one” Penny needles. 

 

John glares at her and she can’t help but laugh,

 

“You should see your face!” Penny laughs.

 

“One day,” John warns, “You’re going to make that joke and I’m going to call your bluff and then you’ll be sorry.”

 

Penny laughs again as John quickly changes direction and she catches a glimpse of Gordon over his shoulder looking peeved that his attempt at cutting in failed.

 

“You mean I’ll call your bluff and say yes and then you’ll be sorry” she teases, winking at Gordon as they whirl away from him.

 

They’ve been doing it a while now. If there’s dancing then there’s also Pass the Penny. All the Tracy brothers are beautiful dancers all, a product of their Grandmother’s old fashioned parenting style. They’re skilled enough that they find no difficulty in remembering steps or leading without getting tangled so they have time for silly games. 

 

Cutting in is a favourite, and now that Virgil has ushered his bride off the dancefloor Penny has become the prize.  John whirls her around the floor, deftly avoiding another attempt by Gordon and a sneaky attack by Alan. 

 

Penny’s not surprised. John’s the best dancer in the family. But there’s more to Pass the Penny than just dance ability, there’s also skill with women, and in that respect Scott has John beat hands down. 

 

“There is actually something I’d like to talk to you about-” John starts.

 

He never sees his big brother coming, but Penny does, crossing the dancefloor like a shark to slip an arm around Penny and pry her out of John’s arms.

 

“Fancy meeting you here” he grins whipping her away.

 

“That was terribly rude” Penny scolds, “John was in the middle of something!”

 

“Yeah, John was in the middle of monopolising you” Scott jokes. “It’s hardly fair.”

 

“He wants me back” Penny notes as she watches John approach them, a determined look in his eye.

 

“Is that so?” Scott asks, “Well we’ll see about that.”

 

Penny nearly lets out a very unladylike cackle as Scott spins her out to be neatly intercepted by Alan. She couldn’t stop herself laughing when she saw that Scott had cut off John’s attack by sweeping him up instead, and the elder two boys seemed to be bickering quietly as they waltzed across to the opposite side of the floor.

 

“Alan darling, what is John so interested in asking me?” Penny says sweetly.

 

The boys have made a mistake giving her Alan. He blushes so sweetly and can’t keep a secret to save his life. 

 

“I… um…” he starts, “Gosh those are awful nice shoes Lady P!”

 

“Alan” she says sternly.

 

She doesn’t get a chance to crack Alan. Gordon comes to his baby brother’s rescue, smartly tapping Alan on the shoulder.

 

“Mind if I cut in?” he asks   
  


“Please!” Alan practically yelps, stepping back from her Ladyship. 

 

Penny offers out her hand, but is surprised when Gordon instead takes Alan up instead and abandons Penny in the middle of the floor.

 

Scott appears at her shoulder without her even noticing, offering out an arm,

 

“John’s on the balcony” he says, “I think you might like the view.”

 

Penny side eyes Scott and his suspiciously cryptic statement, but she allows him to escort her off the dancefloor and through the crowded wedding party to the French doors. 

 

Despite the heat of the evening it’s suspiciously empty out on the large balcony. Penny has a feeling that this has been specially arranged. Scott leaves her at the door so she makes her way down the length of the terrace to where John is standing.

 

“Scott was right, this is a lovely view” she says.

 

“Is it?” John says, turning to look at her instead, “I hadn’t noticed.”

 

Penny smiles and blushes,

 

“Careful there John, you’re awfully close to flirting.”

 

“Warning duly noted,” he smiles as he fishes through his jacket pocket, “Although while we’re on that topic.” He pulls a small box from his pocket and gracefully sinks to one knee in front of her and Penny’s heart sinks.

 

John is her best friend. Her most wonderful, loyal, and perfect friend. And she does love him, but not like this. Keeping friends, especially male ones, has always been difficult for her and the reason why her time with John has been so successful was because she thought he didn’t view her like this. And now it’s all ruined and he’s not going to want to be her friend any more.

 

“Watching Virgil and Kayo go through this whole insane process of friends, to lovers, to planning the most insane wedding I’ve ever been to has got me thinking about life,” John starts,

 

“John, wait-” Penny begs, bending to try and get him to stand.

 

“No, wait, let me finish,” he insists. “I’ve watched arguments about cake and flowers and place settings and colour swatches for goddamn napkins and I realised I never ever want to get married.”

 

Penny was braced for the dreaded “Will you marry me” so it takes her a second to register what John’s actually said.

 

“Wait… what?”

 

He’s grinning up at her with a  _ Gotcha! _ smirk on his face and she wants to slap him and kiss him at the same time.

 

“Penny, will you make me the happiest man in the world and promise to shoot me if I ever even consider getting married?” John asks, popping open the black box in his hand to reveal a friendship charm necklace.

 

Penny leans on the balcony railing in sheer relief and laughs,

 

“Yes you total bloody idiot, I agree!”

 

“I really had you going there didn’t I?” John says cheerfully as he clambers to his feet.

 

“You did, you total bastard!” Penny agrees fondly, plucking the necklace out of his hands to examine it better. 

 

It’s a charming gold charm, the traditional half a heart, neatly engraved with  _ BFF _ and on the reverse some sort of way to connect it to a matching charm. 

 

“Where’s the other one?” she asks.

 

In response John lifts his wrist to show her where the other half of the heart is attached to his watch strap. 

 

“And, because Brains can’t make anything without adding a little special feature,” John adds. He lifts the necklace out of the box and connects the two halves together. A curious beam of light comes out of the point at the bottom of the heart which John aims at the brick wall opposite them. 

 

The heart, it turns out, is a projector. And Penny finds it hard not to tear up at the sight of her favourite photo; her and John, covered in confetti and shaving foam, grinning into the camera on the last day of their exams at Oxford. 

 

“Do you like it?” John asks, his voice full of concern.

 

Penny nods, but knows he needs more. She clears her throat and stretches up onto her tiptoes to kiss his cheek before forcing herself to speak,

 

“I love you” she says, and her best friend smiles his beautiful smile.

 

“Oh, good!”


End file.
